An Editor’s Overview

I love our new series, “It Happened on the Road,” and this month’s piece on Courtney Barnett’s Dave Mudie is no exception. It’s wild considering what can happen when you throw a group of musicians into a bus, van, plane, hotel room, grocery store, restaurant, or any other unforeseen scenario that can come up while touring. And it can be a true test to work out a group’s dynamics over the course of a long trek in a confined space. And that’s not even taking into account whatever unexpected circumstances may arise in the course of travelling to each venue.

A jazz drummer by trade, yet with an innate ability to enthrall with groove intensity alone, Nate Smith is reanimating the eternal grace, mystery, and magic of the 16th-note soul/R&B groove, which he simply calls “pocket.”

On the main goal of his book, The Singing Earth I wrote The Singing Earth as a way to teach people, through storytelling and the accompanying soundtrack, about the incredible music that exists around the world, most of which is not mainstream, popular music.

At the Continental Club in Austin, Texas, a curtain-lined wall behind the stage separates the main room from the back room, where a red-felt pool table gets far more use displaying the band’s merch than pocketing balls. A few feet away, beyond the back room’s makeshift bar and a tub of iced-down Lone Star beer, you’ll find a framed photo of drummer Lisa Pankratz.

Dena Tauriello has rocked her whole life. Coming up with several bands, she brought power to the stage and a solid pocket in the studio. With country rockers Antigone Rising, Tauriello honed her craft to become the respected timekeeper she is today, displaying equal parts muscle and finesse over the course of several well-received records and tons of live concerts.

The drummer, producer, and songwriter has had a hugely successful career playing multiple, invaluable roles with Billy Idol, Simple Minds, Donna Summer, and other pop and rock greats. Here, close associate Erik Eldenius gets personal with the triple-threat artist, who in the past has tended to steer clear of the spotlight.

This past May 25 the seminal prog-rock group Spock’s Beard released Noise Floor, a two-disc record that features the multifaceted drum wizard Nick D’Virgilio. In 2011, Nick, who was an original member of Spock’s Beard, parted ways with the group after twenty years to pursue a touring gig with Cirque du Soleil.